I’ve been thinking a lot about libraries lately, probably because my book addiction is out of control in spite of a thorough shelf-culling both before and after we moved. So it would be better, much better, to have guest books that could be returned to some other bookshelf than the ones in my apartment.
Free libraries are pure socialism, no doubt an invention of the devil to the bugfuck-crazy teabags who don’t want to be helped at any cost, lest they should be asked to pay a nickel to help someone else.
But I have always loved libraries.
I was delighted to find out that Vinnie’s Head had been purchased by libraries in Singapore and Tasmania. And jazzed to find it on the shelf at the wonderful public library in downtown LA. I spent hours in libraries, from the time I could read until I could afford to buy my own books (something that happened fairly late in life). And now in the difficult condition of partial and uncertain employment, I’m spending that time in them once again.
What a pleasure.
Same problem here! The only good thing is that as I get older I feel less attached to my books. Almost resentful of them, actually, for weighing me down. It really does take a move (which I also recently did) to put it in perspective.
I seem to have lost my love of libraries, though, which is really sad. I just don’t feel at ease in them. Maybe I can learn to enjoy them again.
Congrats on your book news. Do you define yrself as a horror novelist? I am impressed you are published by St. Martin’s.
Loved your comment about “partial and uncertain employment”… for some reason
G.
E.A. Poe was the first writer I read after I stopped just looking at the pictures. He was the role model for all writers, for me, so I feel comfortable being a poet, a crime novelist, and a horror writer. My crime novel, King Kooler (about a crooked major appliance salesman who fakes his own death) is going the rounds now; I’m working on a series of linked ghost/horror stories that should grow into a novel of sorts before I’m finished.
That’s interesting. There was a point in my life (around age 12?) that I loved the horror genre. I still have a book called “The Great Book of Thrillers” which is filled with many horror and ghost stories complete with scary pictures. Came out in the 1930s…good stuff. And of course I loved “The Shining.” And Sheridan Le Fanu. Anne Rice.
My big challenge is finding time to write. Do you have that down?
Moved? To the L.A. area? One of my sons lives there.
Our Port Washington Library is wonderful. I could spend all day there and it has both of your books!
Are you in the middle of writing another book right now?
Janice
Not L.A., but Alameda. That’s right next to Oakland, across the bay from San Francisco. It’s an island, packed with beautifully restored Victorian houses, has a nice small beach, and most things I need. I’m trying to see how long I can go without going off the island.
See above for what I’m working on now. I think the book may turn out to be for younger readers or young adults, because the narrator is a 12-year-old boy. But I’ll let the editors decide that and just write it.
Oh, Alameda is lovely. Enjoy your new home.
One of my grandmothers lived around the corner from Poe Park in the Bronx. I used to go into Poe Cottage as a child and look at Edgar Allen Poe’s desk and books, etc. I was fascinated by him before I knew who he was.
Good luck with the book.